In an earlier thread, as a Rams fan, I expressed concern with the Rams selection of Brockers because LSU players seem to underwhelm in the NFL. Below is a list of LSU players who are on, or will be on, NFL rosters.

McClure has been a good center for the Falcons; Peterson has loads of potential as he is already one of the best return men; Landry has been solid, but only 4 career ints????; Henderson has been a consistent deep threat for the Saints; while Bowe is a stud. But overall, LSU players have not exactly set the NFL on fire. I think the only player who receives consistent pro bowl recognition is Bowe, while Peterson may warrant that type of attention sooner rather than later.

Now let's take a school such as Boston College, who has spent the last few years near the bottom of the weak ACC.

I don't think it's just LSU, it's alot of big college programs. USC, Texas, Florida, they seem to produce lots of busts. Talented teams mask alot of individual flaws that prospects might have. For example Brockers, it didn't seem to matter if he didn't push the pocket or have any pass rush moves because he's playing next to two stud pass-rushers. I'm not saying he's going to bust although he wasn't my favorite prospect but at the end of the day his weakness doesn't hurt LSU as much as it would a team that didn't also have Mingo and Montgomery, therefore making everyone look better. It's not that teams should just avoid these guys from powerhouse programs because that would be stupid, but I think you need to take a harder look at their flaws than you would a kid from a smaller school.

I don't think it looks that out of the ordinary. And a perfectly reasonable explanation is that high-profile schools may be more complete teams in the first place, and have great coaching to develop their players, and are more heavily scouted by NFL teams, and thus have more mediocre-to-decent roster-filler types that make the NFL, where similar guys from smaller schools may not have the kind of experience, development, coaching, and exposure that those from the big schools do.

I don't think it's just LSU, it's alot of big college programs. USC, Texas, Florida, they seem to produce lots of busts. Talented teams mask alot of individual flaws that prospects might have. For example Brockers, it didn't seem to matter if he didn't push the pocket or have any pass rush moves because he's playing next to two stud pass-rushers. I'm not saying he's going to bust although he wasn't my favorite prospect but at the end of the day his weakness doesn't hurt LSU as much as it would a team that didn't also have Mingo and Montgomery, therefore making everyone look better. It's not that teams should just avoid these guys from powerhouse programs because that would be stupid, but I think you need to take a harder look at their flaws than you would a kid from a smaller school.

Valid point. But USC, Texas and Florida have produced some studs as well. Troy Palomala (sp?), Ryan Khalil, Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing for USC; Casey Hampton, Jamaal Charles, Jermicheal Finley, Brian Orakpo, and Earl Thomas for Texas; the Pouncy's, Dunlap, Hernandez, and Percy Harvin for Florida. Granted, these schools had their share of disappointments and busts, they also appear to have more success at the pro level than LSU (though one could make a argument that Florida players are somewhat disappointing).

Two future Hall of Famers (Lewis and Reed), another who is well on his way (Andre Johnson), one who has Hall of Fame numbers (Reggie Wayne), one of the best running backs in the league (Frank Gore), and Pro Bowlers at one time or another such as McKinnie, Vilma, Graham, Wilfork, Rolle, Myers, Moss, Hester, and McGahee - as well as a plethora of others who are very good NFL players.

I don't want to get too much into it, but LSU wasn't a powerhouse program in the 90s, and Miami was in the 90s and early 00s.

LSU has, really in just the past decade or so became a national powerhouse. Give LSU some time and I'm sure there list will look almost as impressive as Miami.

Miami was producing stars at nearly every level (although it's amazing QB and O-Line never seemed to develop much) while LSU really just seems to produce DT's, DB's, a few WR's and some odd ones here and there/

I don't want to get too much into it, but LSU wasn't a powerhouse program in the 90s, and Miami was in the 90s and early 00s.

LSU has, really in just the past decade or so became a national powerhouse. Give LSU some time and I'm sure there list will look almost as impressive as Miami.

Miami was producing stars at nearly every level (although it's amazing QB and O-Line never seemed to develop much) while LSU really just seems to produce DT's, DB's, a few WR's and some odd ones here and there/

Good point regarding quarterbacks. Other than Kelly and perhaps Kosar, Miami never really produced top flight qbs. Yeah, Testeverde played for decades, but never was the player many thought he would be.

Even as of late, Miami has produced good players. Olsen, Graham, Beason, Winston, Phillips, Shields, Franklin, and Campbell.

LSU has not really produced too many DTs, though they have had a few good db's (Peterson and Landry being two of the better ones).

You may be onto something as far as LSU lacking in the pro department due to their lack of past success....look at Alabama. They are not exactly supplying the NFL with Pro Bowlers. Just five or six years ago, they were dismal.

Good point regarding quarterbacks. Other than Kelly and perhaps Kosar, Miami never really produced top flight qbs. Yeah, Testeverde played for decades, but never was the player many thought he would be.

LSU has not really produced too many DTs, though they have had a few good db's (Peterson and Landry being two of the better ones).

Yeah I was talking the second life of Miami football, from the 90s-2000s they havent produced any QBs.

it's true. I hate this program actually, and am still fairly bitter about buster davis and jacob hester being not just awful, but really pretty pathetic to the extent that you never thought they were even trying hard. Hester actually is still on the Bolt roster despite being a fullback that takes away from the running game's potency, although will be a special teamer/backup to McClain this year.

We also have Scafe and Lee in camp, AJ Smith loves LSU like i loved that girl in high school who did meth, until she literally got a facial scar from a car crash. Man that was insaaaane. waht an apt metaphor.

Miami has obviously produced some great pros (or at least they used to) but half the players on that Miami list absolutely suck, or are barely rosterable players.

It's hard to give Miami credit for "producing" solid pros lately because even though some of them turned out to be solid pros, they it's only because of the coaching they got once in the NFL. They were raw as a turnip leaving Miami and the program did absolutely nothing to develope these players.

A lot of the best pros that Bama produced over the years are recently retired like Chris Samuels, Shaun Alexander, etc... or were tragically killed in car accidents like Derrick Thomas was.

Alabama has produced some of the best pros that the NFL has ever had if you go back a little... guys like Ozzie Newsome, John Hannah, Dwight Stephenson, Joe Namath, Bart Starr, Kenny Stabler, etc.

The more draft picks a program produces, the higher the bust percentage increases. Likewise, so does the odds of produces average pros.

As great as Miami was in the 90's and 2000's, look at all the 1st round busts... Yatil Green, Mike Rumph, Phillip Buchanon, Jerome McDougle, Damione Lewis, William Joseph, etc. Dan Morgan was a nice player but made of glass.

Remember Randall Hill?

You have to produce a lot of average pros in order to produce a lot of great ones.

Two future Hall of Famers (Lewis and Reed), another who is well on his way (Andre Johnson), one who has Hall of Fame numbers (Reggie Wayne), one of the best running backs in the league (Frank Gore), and Pro Bowlers at one time or another such as McKinnie, Vilma, Graham, Wilfork, Rolle, Myers, Moss, Hester, and McGahee - as well as a plethora of others who are very good NFL players.

Those great Miami teams from the late 90s to the start of the last decade also featured Clinton Portis, Edge James, Jeremy Shockey and the late great Sean Taylor.

Go back a bit further and you'll find Warren Sapp, Michael Irvin, Cortez Kennedy, Russell Maryland, the Blades brothers and Jerome Brown (RIP). Even long before the Hurricanes became a powerhouse in the 80s they still produced two HOF Raiders legends in Ted Hendricks and Jim Otto.

I hate the LSU program for this reason. There is just a lack of good-great players that come out of it. Someone mentioned that it is a problem with many of the bigger schools, and that may be true. A program like LSU gets a lot of hype because they have been so good the past decade, and I feel that causes people to "fall in love" with certain players even if they aren't that good.

I'm going to throw out a 'correlation does not imply causation' worry here. There are only so many productive NFL players at a given time. Right now, LSU hasn't produced as many as they could have. I think guys like Brockers, Claiborne and Randle will help change this trend.

Just glancing over the list those guys right there were/are pretty darn good players in the NFL - most of them pro bowl or at least pro bowl quality. There are a bunch of other guys on that list who are established starters in the league even if they aren't pro bowlers or stars. I'm pretty positive Morris Claiborne is going to be really good as well.

Sure LSU has had a fair share of high pick busts, but so does every other school who produces that large of a volume of top picks (look at USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida State, etc.)

It's been covered pretty well but when you're on a top team you get more exposure, hence guys at LSU that would've been 2nd-3rd rounders elsewhere going in round 1, same for 4th-5th rounders getting pushed up, etc

Boston College is in the dumpster now but they were a very consistent, if unexciting, 8-9 win team for a very long time (save the one year with Matt Ryan where they peaked at #2 overall). They get no exposure being in a pro sports town with a small fanbase

Miami has obviously produced some great pros (or at least they used to) but half the players on that Miami list absolutely suck, or are barely rosterable players.

It's hard to give Miami credit for "producing" solid pros lately because even though some of them turned out to be solid pros, they it's only because of the coaching they got once in the NFL. They were raw as a turnip leaving Miami and the program did absolutely nothing to develope these players.